MSN TRIES AGAIN FOR YOUR TV SET
Over the years, I've seen them come and go. I'm talking about
those set-top boxes for your television that give you access to the
Internet. And while they met with varying degrees of success, most
of them just weren't a hit with consumers. Still, companies continue
to try and find that magic combination of hardware and software that
will finally bring the Internet into the home without the need of a
personal computer.
 The
latest offering up to bat looks like it may have a good chance of
making it for one really good reason. It's made by Microsoft. Now
I'm not saying that anything made by Microsoft is a success. The
recycle bin is stuffed with many of the company's products that
didn't make it. But the MSN TV 2 Internet and Media Player is a
second generation box that has learned from so many of the mistakes
inherent in its predecessors. And while this still may not be TV
Internet nirvana, I believe they are on the right path with this
unit.
Based upon the popular MSN service, the MSN TV 2 box connects to
your TV set via composite or S-Video connections. The Internet
connection can be made via the unit's faster broadband Ethernet port
or its slower standard dialup connection. Two additional USB ports
are there for additional peripherals such as a printer. The MSN TV 2
can also be hooked up into an existing local area network in your
home or office.
From the MSN TV home page, users have access to headline news and
can search the Web. Additional features include accessing photos,
video, music, Instant Messages, chat rooms, MSN channels, basically
just about anything you can do with the MSN service using a
computer.
Since you are accessing the MSN services via the box's
proprietary system, everything is formatted to be viewed on an
average TV set which typically has a much lower resolution than a
computer monitor. However even though the pages are specially
formatted to accommodate a TV screen, a Resize Page button next to
the spacebar lets you observe a website as it would appear on a
computer's display. Five different sizes of text may also be
selected. >From what I could see, most anything I could view on MSN
using a computer was available to me using the MSN TV 2 box.
The MSN TV 2 uses a 733 MHz Intel Celeron processor. And while
that computing power may not be considered top of the line in the
computer world, remember that the MSN TV 2 doesnąt have most of the
software overhead that's required by an ordinary PC so it can
utilize the processor power more efficiently. With that in mind, the
box comes with 128 megabytes of memory along with an additional 64
megabytes of Flash memory that doesn't forget when the power is
turned off. The box also uses the Windows CE operating system and
offers Internet Explorer 6.0 technology along with a Microsoft Word
and Adobe PDF document viewer. Supported graphic formats include
JPEG, GIF, BMP and PNG which are the most popular image formats used
online. Windows Media compatible video and audio clips are also
supported.
The MSN TV 2 also includes a wireless keyboard and a TV-like
handheld remote control. The MSN TV 2 sells for $199. The monthly
MSN service is $9.95 a month if you have your own dial-up or
broadband Internet Service Provider and $21.95 a month for dial-up
access.
The MSN TV 2 is available through several national retailers such
as Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, online at Amazon.com, or
directly from MSN via msntv.com.
It goes without saying that these kinds of set-top boxes still
can't rival the functionality found in a personal computer. But then
again, the MSN TV 2 sells for a fraction of the cost and its design
really isn't intended to replace a computer. The MSN TV 2 provides a
general, easy-to-access Internet experience without the clutter and
expense of a personal computer sitting in your TV room. Go check one
out. You may like what you see.
www.msntv.com |
